Stephen Colbert Shows Jimmy Kimmel Clip of the Moment He Learned His Show Was Suspended
Stephen Colbert is opening up about what happened behind the scenes when he learned CBS was ending The Late Show — and released a video showing the exact moment he learned ABC had suspendedhis friend Jimmy Kimmel‘s show.
Colbert appeared as a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday night, with both hosts appearing on each other’s programs in a display of mutual support following the recent late night turmoil that saw CBS deciding to end Colbert’s series next year and ABC temporarily suspending Kimmel.
Kimmel noted that this marked the first interview that Colbert has given since CBS’ shock announcement in July.
During the interview, Colbert revealed he found out about Kimmel’s suspension by his executive producer stopping him and showing him a text message in the middle of taping his show.
You can watch the moment during the interview segment embedded below (it starts at the 9:45 mark). Colbert is handed a phone while at his interview desk. He stares at the message for a long moment. He puts his feet on the desk as he continues to read. “OK, Jimmy Kimmel’s show has been pulled ‘indefinitely’ by ABC …” he tells his studio audience. “Wow … wow …” Colbert suddenly gets up and tells his audience, “Hold on one second, I’m going to go find out what this is about” and walks off stage.
“[The text] didn’t tell me why [Kimmel had been suspended],” Colbert told Kimmel. “There was no rationale given, just that you had been yanked.” He jokingly added, “I generally assumed that it was your fault. I know you well enough to know that.”
As for learning about The Late Show ending, Colbert said he received a call from the hosts’ mutual manager, James Dixon. Recalled Colbert, his manager — nicknamed “Baby Doll” — said to him, “‘Hey baby, I just need to talk to you for 15 minutes after the show on Wednesday.’ I’m like, ‘Wow, five minutes on the phone with Baby Doll is like an hour, so 15 minutes in person? What the hell is this about?’ So I said to [my wife, Evelyn McGee-Colbert], ‘Hey, I’ll be home a bit later, I got to talk to Baby for 15 minutes.’ I come home two and a half hours later and I walk in, and she goes, ‘What happened? Did you get canceled?’ And I said: ‘Yes, I did.’”
Kimmel pointed out that his manager knew the show was ending for a week but didn’t want to upset Colbert while he was on vacation.
Colbert said he originally didn’t want to tell his staff until after their summer break, but his wife accompanied him to work the next day because she knew he wouldn’t be able to hold back the news.
“By the time I get to my offices, I have sweat through my shirt because I didn’t want to know anything my staff didn’t know,” Colbert said. “And I said, I’m going to tell my staff today.’ But then we couldn’t do a show if I told them because everybody would be bummed out and I would be bummed out.” So Colbert performed the show, and then told the audience to stay put, as they had to record one more act for the show, which would eventually be placed at the show’s opening.
“And my stage manager goes, ‘Oh, no, we’re done Steve,’” he recalls “And I said, ‘Nope. There’s one more act of the show. Please don’t let the audience leave.’ And he goes, ‘No boss. I got the [run of show] here and we’ve done everything.’ And I said, ‘I’m aware of that, and I’m here to tell you there is one more act of the show.’
“So I went backstage and I said [to the crew], ‘Everybody get on Zoom,’” he continued. “I told everybody as briefly as I could so they wouldn’t find out about it on air. And then I went back out onstage to tell [the audience on camera]. I was so nervous about doing it right because there was nothing in the prompter. I was just speaking off the cuff. I had to restart twice. And the audience thought it was a bit and started [chanting], ‘You can do it!’ Because I always messed up on the sentence where I told them it was happening.”
Kimmel said he found out about Colbert’s show ending while he was at a “No Kings” protest march with his family. “I was absolutely shocked; it’s not right,” Kimmel said.
“That’s nice of you to say,” Colbert replied. “It’s their ball, and they can take it home if they want.”
“They don’t have any balls, Stephen, let’s be honest,” Kimmel shot back, drawing laughs.
Colbert expressed relief that Kimmel was back on the air and that he wanted to get to know him better off-air as a person. “I got to catch up on getting to know you because the more I get to know you, the more I admire you as as a leader.” Colbert then quipped: “And here’s something I didn’t know is that you’re funny.”
To which Kimmel dryly replied, “Most people who watch me just on TV aren’t aware of that.”
